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Gene Roddenberry
Eugene Wesley Roddenberry , sometimes referred to as the "Great Bird of the Galaxy", is best known as the creator of the science fiction television series Star Trek, beginning the long running ''Star Trek'' franchise. Roddenberry's remains (probably some of his ashes in a small capsule, about the size of a lipstick) were the first to be launched into Earth's orbit, where they will circle our planet until they burn up while reentering the atmosphere. History Early Life Roddenberry was born in El Paso, Texas, on August 19, 1921, and spent his childhood in the city of Los Angeles. He studied three years of policemanship and then transferred his academic interest to aeronautical engineering and qualified for a pilot's license. He volunteered for the United States Army Air Corps, and was ordered into training as a flying cadet when the United States entered the Second World War in 1941. Ordered to the South Pacific, Second Lieutenant Roddenberry flew missions against enemy strongholds there. In all, he took part in approximately 89 missions and sorties. He was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. It was in the South Pacific where he first began writing. He sold stories to flying magazines, and later poetry to publications, including The New York Times. When the war ended, he joined the Pan American World Airways. During this time, he also studied literature at Columbia University. Television He continued flying until he saw television for the first time. Correctly estimating television's future, he realized this new medium would need writers. He acted immediately, leaving his flying career behind, and went to Hollywood, only to find television industry still in its infancy, with few openings for inexperienced writers. Roddenberry joined the Los Angeles Police Department. While working his way up the LAPD ranks, he had sold scripts to shows as Goodyear Theatre, The Kaiser Aluminum Hour, Four Star Theater, Dragnet, The Jane Wyman Theater, and Naked City. Established as a writer, Sergeant Roddenberry turned in his badge and became a freelancer. ''Star Trek'' Star Trek followed in the mid-1960s. The first pilot was rejected by the network, pronounced "too cerebral". Once on the air, however, Star Trek developed a loyal following. Influenced by a fan write-in campaign, NASA even named its prototype space shuttle Enterprise, after the name of Captain Kirk's beloved starship. After the Star Trek series ended, Roddenberry produced several motion pictures, and also made a number of pilots for television. Roddenberry served as a member of the Writers Guild Executive Council and as a Governor of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He held three honorary doctorate degrees: Doctor of Humane Letters from Emerson College (1977), Doctor of Literature from Union College in Los Angeles, and Doctor of Science from Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York (1981). For Star Trek 's 25th anniversary, two months before his death, Roddenberry gave TV Guide a list of his top ten favorite episodes. One might assume that these most clearly represented his vision of what Star Trek should be: * * * * * * & * * * * The Series That Never Was By June 1977, Star Trek was to become a television series again, after the success of the original Star Trek. Paramount attempted to launch a new series, tentatively titled Star Trek: Phase II. Construction on the sets started in July, and the writers' and directors' guide was published in August. The original cast, except for Leonard Nimoy, returned to reprise their roles, along with several new characters, such as Lt. Xon, who would be taking Spock's place, first officer Willard Decker, and navigator Lt. Ilia. As work was being finished on the sets and costumes, Paramount abandoned the plans. Probably influenced by the success of Star Wars, they decided to turn the television series into Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The Next Generation In September 1987, Star Trek: The Next Generation continued the legend that Roddenberry began 25 years prior with Star Trek, the original series. This new show offered Roddenberry the technical possibilities and the budget to realize his vision. Never would a science fiction series become so popular. Legacy 's "Unification I"]] On , Gene Roddenberry passed away. At the time of his passing, Roddenberry was survived by his wife Majel Barrett (who featured as Nurse Chapel on Star Trek, Lwaxana Troi and the ''Enterprise''-D's computer voice on Star Trek: The Next Generation) and their son, Eugene Roddenberry, Jr., his two grown daughters from a previous marriage, and two grandchildren. Eugene Roddenberry, Jr. currently heads the Roddenberry.com website (which is also the main site for Lincoln Enterprises), and is "Consulting Producer" for the fan film series Star Trek: New Voyages. The legacy of Star Trek, as created by Gene Roddenberry, continued to grow as the newest series, Star Trek: Enterprise, joined Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. Star Trek: The Next Generation evolved into a feature film series, debuting in 1994 with Star Trek Generations. Roddenberry is often affectionately referred to as the "Great Bird of the Galaxy." Other shows of Roddenberry's design include Earth: Final Conflict and Andromeda, which was based on a 1973 pilot he produced called Genesis II (with Mariette Hartley, Majel Barrett, Percy Rodriguez and Ted Cassidy) and its 1974 re-working Planet Earth (with Barrett, Cassidy, Diana Muldaur, and Craig Hundley). Roddenberry canon A minority of purist fans advocate a 'Roddenberry canon' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_canon, to denote what episodes Star Trek's creator approved of as 'official.' Defining such a concept is elusive, as Roddenberry was known to change his views over the years. The Original Series would seem to be part of this canon, comprising 80 episodes. He rejected The Animated Series as apocryphal, along with elements of two films, "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier", and "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country". At the time of his death, 110 episodes of the Next Generation had completed production, from "Encounter at Farpoint" through "New Ground". This leaves 190 episodes of Star Trek as part of the supposed Roddenberry canon, along with the first four films, and most of films five and six. Adhering to this view would mean rejecting 616 episodes, as well as at least four films, as there have been 726 episodes of Star Trek produced to date, along with ten motion pictures. Trivia *Gene Roddenberry had a second cousin twice removed named Mary Sue Roddenberry. Ironically, and probably by sheer coincidence, the widespread fan fiction term "Mary Sue", which is used to describe overly perfect original female characters, has its origins in the person of Lt. Mary Sue, a character in the satirical 1974 short Star Trek story by Paula Smith called "A Trekkie's Tale". *Roddenberry gave his middle name to one of the characters of Star Trek: The Next Generation – Wesley Crusher. His middle name was also used as the last name of the TOS character Robert Wesley, which was also a pseudonym Roddenberry used in his early writing career. Credits Roddenberry receives creator credit on all episodes of TNG, DS9, VOY, and ENT, all the movies, many Star Trek computer games such as the Elite Force series and Star Trek: Bridge Commander, and much fanon material, via the phrase "Based upon Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry". Roddenberry also receives credit for writing lyrics to the TOS main title theme, although these lyrics were never recorded. In the book "Inside Star Trek: The Real Story," Herb Solow and Robert Justman allege that Roddenberry, who had no musical experience of any kind, wrote words to Alexander Courage's theme for the show solely to accrue royalties that were required to be paid to the lyricist. In doing so, he effectively cut Courage's royalties in half, as the composer would otherwise have received all royalties accruing from the theme. Writing Credits * TOS ** (story) ** (story) ** (story) ** (story) ** (story) ** (story) ** (story) ** (teleplay) ** (story) ** (story) ** (story) ** (story) * (story, uncredited) * TNG ** (story) ** (teleplay) ** (teleplay) Producer Credits * TOS (executive producer; producer) ** to (producer) ** (credited as executive producer and producer) ** to (producer) ** to (executive producer) ** (producer) ** to (executive producer) ** (producer) ** to (executive producer) * TAS (executive producer) * Star Trek films ** (producer) ** (executive producer) * TNG (executive producer) ** to "Time's Arrow, Part I" Executive Consultant Credits * TAS * Star Trek films ** ** ** ** Acting Credits * TOS ** as the voice of the galley chef (uncredited) ** In addition, Roddenberry hosted the video release of and an image of him appeared as Captain Robert April in the Star Trek Encyclopedia See also *Gene Roddenberry: The Last Conversation *[[Man Who Created Star Trek: Gene Roddenberry|The Man Who Created Star Trek: Gene Roddenberry]] External links * * * Gene Roddenberry Biography and Stories Roddenberry, Gene Roddenberry, Gene Roddenberry, Eugene de:Gene Roddenberry es:Gene Roddenberry fr:Gene Roddenberry nl:Gene Roddenberry pl:Gene Roddenberry sv:Gene Roddenberry